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Typing and photocopying is another example. Most said that typing and photocopying services are technically available to them, and many teachers use them. However some teachers prefer to do their own. This is for any one of at least three reasons: • because the staff who would provide the service are general administrative staff who serve the whole school, and are themselves over burdened, so teachers do not like to ask • because they have to put in an order a couple of days in advance, and the round of teaching and preparation does not permit that kind of notice any more (if it ever did!) • because very many teachers now prepare their work on computer at home, so no “typing” is required. The last point is interesting in another context. In retrospect, it would have been illuminating to ask teachers in all the schools we visited what proportion of them had computers at home. Our impression is that by now virtually all teachers do, and that they were purchased before the various schemes for “preferred suppliers” and income tax rebates were put in place. (Indeed one interviewee was scathing about her experience with a “preferred supplier” and was on the point of ditching her “preferred supplier” computer and buying a replacement on the High Street.) As confirmed desktop users all, it occurs to us that the current “laptops for teachers” schemes might be in danger of supplying too little of the wrong equipment too late. Teachers were also concerned that administrative support would be provided at the expense of other staff support to teachers. It is clear that teaching assistants on the one hand, and technician support on the other, makes a real contribution to the quality of learning in schools – without necessarily reducing teacher workload, as already noted. Interestingly, the standard “primary-secondary” split should not be assumed to apply: secondary schools are starting to show an interest in using teaching assistants more extensively, based on their special needs/inclusion experience, while primary schools are starting to recognise the importance of technician support for science and IT. It is perhaps to the credit of the teachers who expressed this point of view that they would rather see teaching assistants and technicians employed to support their pupils’ learning than administrative staff employed to support them directly. To summarise, however, our conclusion would be that teachers’ support (or lack of support) for administrative spending should not be taken as conclusive evidence that the Implementation Report recommendation for three hours of administrative support per teacher is misplaced. Part of the problem is that not enough schools have invested in administrative support for them (or their teachers) to judge. Interestingly, the one secondary school in our sample that had invested considerably in administrative support could demonstrate that it provided real benefits to its teachers – a view that the teachers in that school themselves shared. However clearly one school is not a large enough sample on which to base a judgement. Perhaps the use of administrative staff to support teachers should be reviewed further. NUT/ATL 16 Reducing Teacher’s Workload
Nevertheless, it seems clear that teachers do not view administrative support as having the same potential impact on their lives as the other factors referred to in this report. NUT/ATL 17 Reducing Teacher’s Workload
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Page 3 and 4: about their workloads, and what ste
Page 5 and 6: The NUT is also grateful to the Ass
Page 7 and 8: In secondary schools, the picture w
Page 9 and 10: It would be simple, thought one tea
Page 11 and 12: hour of marking/preparation for one
Page 13 and 14: A contractual limit to contact time
Page 15: In particular, teachers in the latt
Page 19 and 20: These teachers were more likely to
Page 21 and 22: guidance on what monitoring, in par
Page 23: Annex 2 The survey questions The fo

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